Dziennik (26th January) has revealed that the nefarious soviets had atomic bombs on Polish territory. It’s a good thing no one knew about this at the time: their presence would have made Poland an obvious target in any European war. On an entirely unrelated note, an American general calling himself Henry A. Obering has assured […]
Who is to blame for all this snow? This is the question which has been tormenting journalists in local newspapers for the last few days as Poland gets a belated flurry of snow action. Who can we blame for the gigantic tail backs and traffic jams, for the hours wasted by drivers in their cars, […]
Anyone who has stared with unseemly fascination at Charles Minard’s famous graphic charting the near-annihilation of Napoleon’s Grande Arm�e during its ignominious retreat from Moscow is likely to appreciate IBM’s new project, Many Eyes. It’s still early days, but the site provides you with a very simple way of transforming datafiles into “visualizations” that provide […]
The Economist, in a story about migration in Europe (the greatest wave since the end of the Second World War), includes an anecdote that, if accurate, provides an alarming insight into the intellectual skills of those occupying the lower tiers of the British economy:”ROBERT, the Polish-born head of a group of British removal men, can […]
There is talk of abolishing the May 1st public holiday. Showing any respect for work here is regarded as dangerous communist deviance. There used to be a lot more streets named after the labour day holiday.
Over the weekend I caught Children of Men, directed by Alfonso Cuarón (Y Tu Mamá También ). I liked that it took seriously the implications of its scenario (a world in which no baby has been born in 18 years) rather than treating it merely as a plot device used to get the hero up […]
For all those boys from Belvo / Gonzaga / Clongowes / Crescent who claim that the Jays made them the successes/borderline neurotics they are today, the BBC Radio 4 show In Our Time features an enlightening discussion on “The Jesuits–The School Masters of Europe.”
You must understand that both you and your children will have to work harder. Who could have have said such a thing to the Poles in these days of economic growth (around 5 or 6% I believe)? Who would threaten a free people so blatantly? Was it a lesser-known Dickens character? A Dark Satanic Miller? […]
Tuesday’s New York Times featured an article (Anywhere the Eye Can See, It�s Likely to See an Ad) that provided a superficially breezy survey of advertisers’ increasingly invasive strategies for getting customers to eyeball their messages:”Supermarket eggs have been stamped with the names of CBS television shows. Subway turnstiles bear messages from Geico auto insurance. […]
So, less than an hour after I posted my why-oh-why plaint about Airtricity, the following message arrived, from the company’s Senior Marketing Executive no less:”Hi ShaneThanks for your emailThe current Customer Agreement Form can be used by both commercial and residential customers signing up to Airtricity. We should have the new Residential form up on […]
